WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers will delve onThursday into an international debate on whether to hand morecontrol of the Internet to the United Nations, a move many fearwould turn it into a political bargaining chip for censorshipand global taxes on Web companies.

U.S. government officials are gearing up for a Decembermeeting in Dubai where delegations from 193 countries willdiscuss whether the UN should have more say over how theInternet is organized and controlled.

Critics say that, under such a regime, each nationregardless of size has one vote, which could give China, Russia,Iran, Saudi Arabia and other countries greater ability toisolate their populations and silence political dissidents.

"What proponents of Internet freedom do or don't do betweennow and then will determine the fate of the Net, affect globaleconomic growth and determine whether political liberty canproliferate," Robert McDowell, a Republican commissioner on theFederal Communications Commission, said in testimony preparedfor Thursday's hearing.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is holding thehearing in what will be one of the highest-profile airings sofar in the United States on the coming debate at the WorldConference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) inDecember.

The U.S. government is trying to drum up support, bothdomestically and internationally, to preserve a decentralizedInternet.

Obama administration officials held a closed-door meeting afew weeks ago at the White House with representatives from U.S.companies such as Comcast Corp and advocacy groupssuch as the international nonprofit Internet Society to buildsolidarity.

"This is one of those circumstances where I think it's fairto say there's absolute unanimity. I don't believe you'd findany dissent at all to the view that we would like to keep theInternet free of inter-governmental controls," said a StateDepartment official, who was not authorized to speakon-the-record about the discussions.

The Internet is currently policed loosely, with technicalbodies such as the Internet Engineering Task Force, the InternetCorporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the World WideWeb Consortium largely dictating its infrastructure andmanagement. The United States holds significant sway with thosebodies.

When the delegations gather in Dubai, they will renegotiatea UN treaty last revisited in 1988 and debate whether toconsolidate control over the Internet with the UN'sInternational Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The ITU is used to set communications standards, such asdeciding when technologies can be labeled 4G and approving astandard for a universal telephone charger.

For many countries, it seems a natural progression for theITU, formerly the International Telegraph Union in the 1800s, tomorph into the International Internet Union in the 21st century. But for countries such as the United States the move is seen asdangerous.

The United States fears that authoritarian regimes willcampaign for their initiatives by promising to back proposalsfrom developing countries that would like to see tariffs oncontent-heavy Internet companies such as Google Inc andFacebook Inc.

"The votes of governments would be traded for considerationsthat have nothing to do with the Internet. That political horsetrading is the hallmark of inter-governmental bodies," saidSteve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, a coalitionwhose members include AOL Inc, eBay Inc,Facebook, Oracle Corp, VeriSign Inc and YahooInc.

DIPLOMACY

The House panel said in a memo released on Tuesday thatthere is bipartisan agreement that the United States shouldstand firm in opposing any treaty provisions at the WCIT thatwould give the UN substantial control of the Internet.

"Pending international proposals to regulate the Internetcould jeopardize not only its vibrancy, but also the economicand social benefits it brings to the world," the memo said.

The hearing will include testimony from Ambassador PhilipVerveer, the deputy assistant secretary of state who willnegotiate with other nations at the WCIT and help represent theUnited States in Dubai.

Vinton Cerf, regarded as one of the fathers of the Internetand now vice president and chief Internet evangelist at Google,and David Gross, the State Department's former ambassador forinternational telecom policy and now a partner at Wiley Rein,will also testify.

Gross, who is appearing on behalf of an industry coalitionthat includes Google, Microsoft Corp and News Corp, said in his prepared testimony that this is not thefirst attempt to centralize control over the Internet, pointingto UN talks in 2003 and 2005.

He said the United States must take a diplomatic approachthat does not unnecessarily attack the UN's telecommunicationsauthority, but instead concentrates on countries seeking toimpose government mandates on the Internet through the UN.

Gross called for a strong coalition between the UnitedStates and like-minded countries.